USF honored one of its greatest ballhandling guards at halftime Tuesday night.

Fittingly enough, the Dons got a virtuoso performance from a ballhandling guard.

Junior Cody Doolin controlled the game against St. John's the way you'd picture Cap Lavin controlling a game 60 years ago. Doolin scored 18 points and dished out a career-high 14 assists as the Dons took apart the Red Storm 81-65.

Doolin has the ball in his hands for a good portion of almost every USF possession. On Tuesday, his decision-making was just about impeccable. He committed all of two turnovers.

"I think Cody could play a better game than Cody played tonight," said swingman De'End Parker, who led the Dons with 21 points, "but I don't think anybody (else) could play better than Cody played tonight."

Doolin helped the Dons (5-1) extend their winning steak to five games. He played 36 hard minutes against a Big East team.

"I got pretty tired at the end of the game, honestly," Doolin admitted.

Someone who could compare Doolin to Cap Lavin is Cap's son, Steve, the St. John's head coach. Steve Lavin said Doolin put on a "Steve Nash-like performance."

Said Lavin: "Cody dictated tempo, orchestrated their offensive attack. He played with great poise and his game was very precise offensively - and I thought he made great reads."

After the Red Storm (6-3) cut what was a 15-point USF lead to three with 7:41 to go, Doolin went to work. In a three-minute stretch, he converted two tough layups, had an assist and hit two foul shots.

USF head coach Rex Walters provides Doolin with plenty of leeway to run the Dons' offense.

"For him as a third-year starter," Walters said, "you kind of give him the keys a little bit early and say, 'Hey, where are we going?' "

After an opening loss to Stanford, the Dons are going in the right direction. Parker admitted facing a Big East team gave him added motivation.

"We know when we play St. John's, you've got to bring your 'A' game," Parker said. "No matter what people say - Oh, it's another game - it's not. You're going to bring a little extra fire into it."

Said Doolin: "That was a pretty fun game for all of us."

Halftime ceremony: The Dons paid tribute to their 1949 NIT title team, their 1955 and '56 NCAA champion teams and Cap Lavin, 82. Cap, a guard in the early 1950s, was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame in 1997.